Clemson’s path to shaking up Miami starts with Gideon Davidson.
The sophomore back has gone from easing in to taking over. Over the last two weeks, he’s piled up 105 rushing yards and a touchdown against North Carolina, then followed that with 159 yards on the ground and two scores at Cal. That kind of stretch has put him squarely on Miami coach Mario Cristobal’s radar.
“Tremendous contact balance. He can accelerate, he runs behind his pads, runs through tackles, rarely gets tackled by the first guy,,” Cristobal said after studying Davidson’s film against North Carolina and Cal.
“He presents a tremendous threat on any given touch to take it to the house. He did it against North Carolina.
He did it against Cal this past week. Just a really impressive player.”
That’s the problem for Miami: Davidson isn’t just productive, he’s the kind of runner who can flip a game in one snap. Clemson is still working true freshman quarterback Tait Reynolds into the offense, and that makes Davidson even more central to what the Tigers want to do. He’s the player who can carry the load, especially when the rest of the offense is still coming together.
The numbers point to a heavy workload, too. With offensive coordinator Chad Morris expected to call roughly 40 runs on Saturday night, Davidson could see somewhere between 20 and 25 touches.
Reynolds will take off a few times, but Clemson hasn’t gotten a real change-of-pace option from Chris Johnson Jr. or Jarvis Green. David Eziomume is out for the year, which only tightens the spotlight on Davidson.
Cristobal and Miami defensive coordinator Corey Hetherman will have to account for other pieces, but Davidson is the clear headliner in the game plan. If Clemson beats Miami through the air at home, that’s one thing. But Reynolds is still early in his development, and Clemson is not leaning on him to rescue the offense.
There’s also a familiar Clemson thread running through this matchup. Davidson has the kind of burst and big-play juice that once made CJ Spiller such a force for the Tigers. Spiller helped spark the kind of offense Clemson built under Dabo Swinney, and Davidson seems to be finding that same explosive gear.
For Clemson to stun Miami, it may come down to Davidson popping a run or two that changes everything.
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Mayos first extended look there suggested the staff may have stumbled onto something useful, even if the bigger picture is still being sorted out. The Tigers are treating it as part of a broader effort to build depth and cover for the current shortage, which means the real question now is whether this is a short-term patch or the start of a longer-term answer in the middle. [Read more 🡒]